The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-09-22
SOME UGLY HABITS
FREAKY AND ID,OSYNcRATIc WAYS
OF MEN AND WOMEN.

Sticking Out the Tongue-Pulling at the
| Collar-Beating 1attoo-Twiddlins
| the Thumbs-Biting the Nails and
Lips-In Results.
"Just look at that grip
eyes: it is Miss Blank. What about hers"
"Dont you see her tongue!
"Oh, yes. Isn't it perfectly dread1uH
They say she always sticks it out like that
when she's thinking about anything"
The young woman in question was prone
nading the east side of State street early one
morning, attired in a bewitching costume
and pensive expression, while the UP Oh nei
little tongue protruded between two lips OF
the description known to novellsts as coral
eyes" said one of her feminine acqualnt-
ances, "she always does that when thoughtlul
or worried. It's one of those terrible habits
which, when once contracted, stick closer
than a million brothers. Miss Blank began
it when a child, and no one ever took the
trouble to break her of it. Now, poor
girl, it mortifies her terribly to be told
about it, though, of course, she Is
anxious to cure herself But then nearly
every one has some curious little habit which
he would be very glad to break if he could
some trick more or less unpleasant, caused in
the first place PROBABLY by nervousness We
all know the man who tugs at his mustache
and the one who is perratually pulling up his
collar. Then there is the girl who is always
rubbing one eye as if i'll search of a stray
eyelash, and the man who can't be quite
happy without some more or less fragile az
ticle to twist and bend and turn about in hi
fingers. Anything and everything from your
finest lace handkerchief to your new and
extremely delicate paper cutter is sacrificed
to the demon of nervousness which possesses
him, and yet you can't find it in your heart
to rob him of his plaything He is quite happy
and at his ease so long as he is allowed to
twirl and twist as much as he wants to, but
bereft Of the temporary object of his affection
he would be abjectly miserable, and you know
it. Many man can talk fluently and well
while winding something-anything-
his finger, who without it, would be coz
strained, awkward, silent
THE INCEssANT TATTOO.
'One of the most annoying forms of this
disease is the incessant tattoo which some
people keep up on their knees or the table OF
whatever happens to be most convenient as
hCS DOetlu' utiNC llOUlSSl lullolClttlls
usually indulge this habit, and it is very
trying one, though l don't know that it is
worse than 'twiddling your thumb You
don't know what that is3 Why, clasping your
hands with the fingers interlaced and then
moving the thums slowly, very slowly, round
each other Nearly all old English people
are addicted to this habit, and look upon it as
refuge from ennui during times of enforced
idleness, such as that blind mans holiday,
when it is too dark to work or read and yet
not dark enough, according to English no
tions, to light the gas At this time of day
an old English woman will sit and 'twiddle
her thumbs so many times from right to left
| and then so many times from left to right,
until one begins to think she has dis
covered the secret of perpetual motion
| The habit gains such hold upon men that
they are unable to sit unoccupied for a
moment without Immediately beginning to
| Hiddle.'
'Of course, every one knows people who
bite their nails, and nearly all of us can re.
member some girl who has DESTROYED what
was intended for pretty mouth by sense.
less fashion of biting, or rather gnawing, at
| her lip. This is one of the most difficult
habits to break, and at the same time one of
the commonest If you want to see how
widespread it is, just go over to one of the
State street dry goods establishments about
| 10 o'clock on any fine morning. Monday
morning is best, because Monday is the
favorite shopping day. Didn't you know
that! Oh, yes, it's fact. Any floor walker
will tell you that more business is done on
Monday morning than any other time during
the week-that is, in the big shops. OF course,
in the cheap ones Saturday is the great day.
Why should Monday be popular! Oh, sup.
pose it is the reaction after Sundays enforced
idleness. On Sunday one can't shop, and
when one wakes on Monday morning it is SO
delightful to feel that all restrictions are re-
moved, and that there is nothing to prevent
one from shopping all day if inclined to.
THE UGLY RESULTS.
Il always go myself ON Monday, and, as a
rule, meet nearly all my friends, and half of
them, notice. invariably bite their lips when
considering anything seriously. When a
woman asks: DO you think this will
washF or DO you really believe this silk
will not cute or confidentially informs the
counter that she is afraid sixteen yards won't
be enough she nearly always bites her lip,
and very ugly and injurious fashion it is
Ii the lower lip Is the one attacked, the pretty
curve is in time destroyed and the fulness
tattened out, while if the upper lip is i'll
treated tho results are almost worse, for il
becomes heightened in a very unbecomine
manner. Then some women bite the inside
of their lips at the side, just at the gusset' OF
the mouth, and this ends in chronic pout
am convinced that if the girls who indulge
in this trick realized fully its ill effects they
would make more serious efforts to overcome
it. 1t is comparatively easy to do this wher
one is young, and it is quite possible to breal
children of such habits.
"There are lots Of other curious little way
peculiar to individuals. l know O man who
when embarrassed, always taps the side of hi
nose with his little finger, and girl who is 81
given to pushing back her hair behind he
left ear that she has worn a bald spot there.
Chicago News.